1,053 articles · 19 videos found · page 36 of 36
Vallée de Joux village that has been Audemars Piguet HQ since 1875; also home to APRP movement development.
Wristshot gallery from the Horlogeforum Audemars Piguet thread.
Gérald Genta's overnight 1971 sketch that invented the luxury steel sports watch.
AP's 2019 round watch family. Octagonal midcase, round bezel, double-curved sapphire.
Deployant
This year’s SIHH lacks real horological punch. Yes, there were many beautiful timepieces being shown, but no horologically exciting developments. Many were revisions of golden oldies. Audemars Piguet celebrated their 40th anniversary of their Royal Oak and showed many new and very beautiful pieces. Vacheron Constantin revised their Malte line, making them even moreRead More
Deployant
Vacheron Constantin is one of the three Grande Dames of watchmaking…the othe two being Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. Interestingly, it is currently the only one which is within a large group, in this case Groupe Richemont, which count amongst the members of its stable luminaries like A. Lange & Sohne, IWC, Jaeger LeCoultre, Cartier,Read More
Quill & Pad
The Superbia Humanitatis Louis-Elysée Piguet/Franck Muller/Paul Gerber super complication is one of the most legendary watches of our time. And what a story! And here it is in its entirety: from 1892 when Piguet made the movement through 1992 when Franck Muller altered it, all the way through the present day when Paul Gerber modified it three more times to make it the most complicated wristwatch in the world.
SJX Watches
A grand old name in highly complicated movements, Louis-Elisée Piguet was active in the second half of the 19th century and most famous for his grande sonnerie and perpetual calendar calibres. Amongst his clients for ebauches, or movement blanks, were famous names like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin – and his work was perhaps an inspiration for Philippe Dufour in the 20th century. A prime example of one such ebauche – featuring a grande sonnerie and minute repeater no less – was acquired by Michel Parmigiani in the late 1990s. A watchmaker and restorer extraordinaire, Mr Parmigiani and his daughter, Anne-Laure, recently led a project to finish and enhance the movement, resulting in La Rose Carrée, a spectacular pocket watch to mark his namesake brand’s 25th anniversary. Initial thoughts Like the recent Vacheron Constantin Tribute to Johannes Vermeer pocket watch, La Rose Carrée is a masterpiece catered to a narrow audience. There are few collectors of pocket watches nowadays, at least relative to wristwatches, especially pocket watches with seven figure price tags. But inaccessible as it may be, La Rose Carrée is certainly worthy of admiration. The quality of craft and decoration is par excellence – an all-star team of artisans was recruited to complete it – and the ebauche was a masterpiece even unfinished. Stylistically, La Rose Carrée is also unusual in being more contemporary than the average grand complication pocket watch. The geometric f...
SJX Watches
One of the most interesting lots in the second instalment of Masterworks of Time at Sotheby’s that just concluded was a seemingly unassuming pocket watch with an estimate of just 7,000-10,000 Swiss francs. But the pocket watch contains a movement with a single gear train driving double balance wheels linked by a differential, constructed to keep time according to the principles of resonance. This is one of the very movements that inspired Philippe Dufour to create the Duality. And its appearance at auction comes at an opportune time, with F.P. Journe going to launch an entirely new Resonance movement in 2020. The Philippe Dufour Duality Mr Piguet of Lemania The movement was made by Albert G. Piguet (1914-2000), a noted watchmaker who finished the movement in 1933, just before graduating from the École d’Horlogerie in Le Sentier, then the premiere watchmaking school in the Vallee de Joux. He joined movement maker Lemania after graduation, and eventually rose to technical director. Piguet stayed in that role from 1948 to 1980, during which he helped develop numerous calibres, including the important CH27 chronograph movement that later became the cal. 321 found in the early Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, and also the cal. 2310 used by the likes of Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Piguet’s 1933 pocket watch movement is just one of six produced between 1932 and 1934 by students at the watchmaking school, working under the tutelage of headmaster Marcel Builleumi...
Monochrome
Watches, like most products from industrial activities, are ruled by constraints and compromises – whether these are commercial, technological, design-oriented or economical. This is why we, watch enthusiasts, can often be rather disappointed by many new releases. Surely, independent watchmakers playing in a much higher price range can overpass some of these constraints, as a […]
Revolution
SJX Watches
Phillips’s upcoming sale The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII is packed with spectacular watches, including some already well known to collectors like the extra complicated La Royale by Louis Audemars, an unsual Patek Philippe worldtime ref. 2523, and the Golay Fils & Stahl astronomical watch. But among the finest is a simple watch that tracks only the time and state of wind, yet is comprised of several hundred parts: Victor Kullberg No 6583. Behind those three hands is a one-minute tourbillon equipped with an Earnshaw detent escapement, a massive free-sprung compensation balance, anti-magnetic helical balance spring and reverse chain and fusee, making it one of the most elaborate three-hand watches imaginable. Even at its high estimate of US$102,000, this pocket chronometer amounts to something of a steal, especially in an auction where multiple steel sports watches carry much greater estimates. The cult of the chronometer Swiss and English horologists disagreed on a great many things, from the ideal shape and material of escape wheels to the definition of a chronometer. To the Swiss, the title of chronometer was bestowed based on merit as a timekeeper. Any watch could be one if it kept good time, especially with a trusted, independent attestation of its accuracy. Watches submitted to observatory trials — or tested according to the ISO 3159:2009 standard today — are chronometers by this reckoning. England was dominated by the cult of the [marine] chronometer, unsurprisin...
SJX Watches
A rare Breguet pocket watch with retrograde perpetual calendar and equation of time illustrates the evolution of the house from its founder’s era to the early 20th century, blending historical motifs with modern concessions. Made in 1932, Breguet No. 2492 is one of just four known examples from a series of equation of time movements produced over nearly five decades by the legendary workshops of Victorin Piguet. In short, it’s a watch with one foot in the 19th century and one in the early 20th. The transitional nature of the watch evidently resonated with collectors, as the watch recently sold for CHF241,300 at Phillips’ Geneva auction in November, some 20% above its high estimate. Context It might be surprising, but Abraham-Louis Breguet’s unexpected death in 1823 had no immediate effect on the firm’s output. The firm produced well over a hundred watches each year, which required a staff of skilled workers, as well as A.-L. Breguet’s family, who understood what a Breguet watch was, and could build one without being managed by the man himself. However, with the old guard’s retirement, and general decline of Parisian watchmaking, things slowly changed. After the Breguet family sold the firm in the late 19th century, turning instead to the more lucrative business of aviation, the firm’s output strayed from A.-L. Breguet’s vision, abandoning Breguet’s signature design language for a medley of styles catering to specific markets. During this time, the brand...
SJX Watches
A quartet representing the entirety of Philippe Dufour’s repertoire went under the hammer last year, with the Grande Sonnerie wristwatch no. 1 setting the record for any Dufour sold publicly when it achieved the equivalent of US$5.2 million including fees. Sold at the same auction, but for substantially less, was the Grande Sonnerie pocket watch no. 1. Despite the relative values, the pocket watch is arguably a more significant timepiece within Mr Dufour’s work. Why? Initial thoughts In today’s wristwatch-centric era, the fact that it is a pocket watch counts against it. That was also the verdict of the market – the pocket watch sold for half as much as the wristwatch in November 2021. But the Grande Sonnerie pocket watch is the ultimate distillation of Philippe Dufour’s philosophy, the ideal synthesis of the inspiration and impetus behind his creations. He has long stated, both publicly and to me in past conversations, that his watches are a reverential homage to the haute horlogerie produced in the Vallée de Joux during its heyday before the Quartz Crisis, the period between the late 19th to the mid 20th centuries. Timepieces of that era, especially those with ebauches made by the valley’s best specialists like Louis-Elisee Piguet and Ami LeCoutre, are the best watches ever made in Switzerland in his view. And the Grande Sonnerie pocket watch can pass for a timepiece from the late 19th century, perhaps even one made by Mr Dufour’s favourite historical w...
Monochrome
If you’re a recurring reader of MONOCHROME, you’ve probably seen that we’re normally very reactive, and we try our best to deliver the freshest news possible. However, from time to time, we’re still caught by surprise when a brand releases new editions without prior communication. Today is a perfect example of this situation, as Audemars […]
Hodinkee
Using a vintage Frédéric Piguet Cal. 21, the brand sizes way down with their new tantalum watch.
Time+Tide
EDITOR’S PICK: “Audemars on my wrist, bustdown. We poppin’ bottles like I scored the winning touchdown….” As Meek Mill demonstrated in I’m a Boss, rappers have long held a deep fascination with luxury watches. But given their massive followings and proclivity for namedropping brands in their lyrics, do hip-hop’s big names influence consumers’ buying habits. To … ContinuedThe post EDITOR’S PICK: Are rappers the real horological tastemakers of the world? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
As of late, many watch enthusiasts have broached the subject of what the “Holy Trinity” really means and whether it still holds merit and relevance. For me, while there are many independent newcomers on the scene that fabricate and finish amazing timepieces, none have the rich and uninterrupted history and heritage that Patek Philippe, Audemars … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Split-Second Chronograph Ultra-Thin Platine appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Almost a year to the day since Dave made headlines at the annual Brit Awards for his heartfelt performance of hit single Black, Britain’s hottest rapper has got the watch world excited about his wristwear once again. At the Brits, he was wearing head to toe Louis Vuitton by Virgil Abloh with a rose-gold Audemars … ContinuedThe post UK rapper Dave adds a Patek Phillipe Aquanaut 5168G in “khaki green” to his stellar collection appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
We started at the manufacture which formerly housed the F. Piguet movement manufacture. The Swatch Group does not allow photography inside the manufacture, so no live photographs of the machines. We started at the beginning with the raw materials storage. Brass, maillechort are stored as rolls. Blancpain makes 100% of all components and tools in-house.Read More
Revolution
Why was Audemar Piguet’s CEO wearing a frosted white gold Royal Oak on the morning of day one at SIHH 2017?
Revolution
Ever since the resurrection of Blancpain by Biver and Piguet in the 1980’s, the moon has played an important part in the history of the brand. Their first full calendar model with moon phase was a classical beauty, whose legacy lives on until today. The same can be said for the carrousel (karrussel) that Blancpain […]
Revolution
This year’s SIHH suggested that, even more so than last year, 2014 will be the year of women’s watches with brands from Ralph Lauren to Richard Mille via Parmigiani and Audemars all presenting new pieces made exclusively for the female market. And, if Baselworld previews and leaked novelties are anything to go by, then the […]
Revolution
The Rolex Submariner, the Omega Seamaster Professional and the Cartier Santos Galbee are classics that are more often than not worn on a bracelet. You’d wonder sometimes if these watches would have been the successes they are now if they had only been offered on a strap. Even more so for watches like the Audemars […]
Deployant
I typically associate DeLaneau as a jewellery watch company. Mea Culpa, they are not only about jewellery, but also about high horology, as evidenced by their Amazone 1608 collection of unique artwork pieces, with an interesting movement. I show here a trio of interesting ladies timepieces… The movement is based on the Federic Piguet 11.50,Read More
SJX Watches
The pocket watch format is experiencing an unexpected renaissance. From auction salerooms to high street queues, collectors of all stripes are talking about pocket watches more than at any time in recent memory. That makes it a perfect time to continue our series on groundbreaking historical pocket watches, including Breguet No. 160. This installment analyses the Leroy 01, which reigned as world’s most complicated watch — by most measures — for 85 years. The calm before the storm On the first of November 1897, Charles Piguet began work on an ébauche for which no contract yet existed. In his workshop at Le Sentier, a stone village strung along the floor of the Vallée de Joux at an altitude where winter arrives early and stays long, he opened a commission that would occupy the better part of seven years and produce the most complicated portable timepiece ever constructed. The formal agreement with his client, the Parisian house of L. Leroy & Cie — formerly known as Le Roy & Fils — would not be signed until January 1898. Piguet started anyway. In the Vallée de Joux, a man’s word was sufficient. This detail — two months of work before the ink dried — says something essential about the relationship between the French brand and the Swiss établisseurs on whom it depended. L. Leroy & Cie, founded in Paris in 1785 by Basile-Charles Leroy, had maintained that relationship across generations. When Louis Leroy, who had acquired the firm in 1889 and established a ma...
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